The first impact shook the ground, startling the guards as Zoe fired her shots off, dropping them unconscious to the ground. Leaping slightly to the side as the ground shook, she aimed for the roof of a solid looking building as the truck slammed into the gate, sending the wire fencing flying.

Thump. Thump. Thump-thump-thump. Thump.

Zoe felt the impacts even as she flew through the air and touched down, rolling into a crouch and getting Nix to bring up the impact points on her visor. As she took a few seconds to look around, she watched as the tallest of their targets, a five storey building, started to crumble and fall sideways, taking out another building.

~

The truck arrived barely a moment later at the building with the weapons locker and, with Maddison leading the way, the four of them stormed in, breaking their way into the room. While Maddison, Tyson and Anisha retrieved extra weaponry, Boo went about planting a couple of remote explosives in the more explosive munitions.

The lights flickered and shut off, leaving them in a darkened room inside a building with cries of panic floating around in the distance. Maddison ducked out, hefting a rifle and aiming along the corridor leading further into the building. As the others exited, she fired a pair of shots as two soldiers rounded the corner towards them, dropping them before they even saw the retreating group.

“Set,” Maddison said as they ran out of the building to the truck. Shots rang out and, watching the shadows, she darted under the truck, laying herself out and firing all in a series of smooth, almost practiced motions.

“Get clear,” Zoe replied through the comms as Maddison felt the others climbing into the truck above her, all the while firing their own weapons. They all heard and felt another explosion in the distance. “That was the fuel,” Zoe confirmed as Maddison rolled out the drivers side and leapt into her seat.

“Moving,” Maddison stated as the truck lurched into gear, driving towards their next target, the communications building. As they cleared the building, the lower floor exploded out, Zoe triggering the explosives from her vantage point.

“Their comms centre is down, the connection I have is severed,” Zoe said through their earpieces. “Remember, target leadership, try not to kill anyone else.”

“Roger,” Anisha replied for them all.

~

Zoe leapt, clearing several floors and landing on a roof of a four storey building next to the where the comms tower had been. The tower had collapsed straight down as the building below it had been hit directly in the middle, leaving the buildings next to the comms centre battered with debris, but still standing.

The base was buzzing with activity now, but most of it was undirected and confused. The orbital strike had taken out all intended targets, being power, fuel, munitions and communications, leaving the more occupied buildings alone, other than the office block that another building had slid into.

Connecting to every radio and speaker she could, Zoe breathed out and thought for a moment before speaking. “You have two options. Either drop your weapons, arrest your leaders and proceed out the northern entrance, taking your wounded and injured with you, or stay and die. Your most wanted enemies, the twins, are here with me and they really want vengeance for Bloodless Pact transgressions. You have five minutes to comply.” Severing the connections, she scrambled the radio signals and watched.

“That scared them,” Tyson said through their comms, amusement in his tone. “They’re mostly moving to comply.”

“Acknowledged,” Zoe replied. “I’m moving back to the gate. Keep alert.”

“Roger,” Tyson replied as Zoe turned and ran to the edge of the building, leaping and moving past various people faster than most had time to react to. Anyone who raised a weapon at her received a stunning blast to the chest or head from the array controlled by Nix before the weapon was snatched away from them.

Leaping over the wall and onto the balcony of a second storey office, she crashed through the glass beyond, bumping into a previously unseen desk. Wincing at the unnecessary destruction, she shook the glass off herself before going back to the balcony overlooking the entrance.

Several people were being dragged out, either injured or with hands tied behind their backs. Scanning the crowd, she raised her weapons and fired, taking out the few who had even small weapons on them. As attention turned to her, she stood up onto the edge of the balcony, the stunner array spinning slowly around her arm, pistol at her side, Nix keeping her balanced perfectly on the thin rail.

~

“Sir, report received from Nix, initial strike on target within acceptable variances.”

Gregori nodded, receiving the video footage from Nix’s on board camera in the helmet, making sure it was on the larger screen where most could see it.

The skeleton crew were there to monitor, as everything they could do to help had already been done when they’d launched the projectiles. Gregori had, as normal, refused to let anyone else be in charge, though there were two others nearby who were perfectly capable, including Elaine, who was monitoring vitals and the video at the same time.

“Zoe is an excellent tactician,” Gregori said to Elaine, who stood next to him in the centre of the room.

Elaine nodded, acknowledging that she’d heard him, but not verbalising a response.

~

Maddison spun around Anisha, dropping a sword and firing a pistol as the other woman reversed her own direction and skewered the soldier attempting to stab Maddison. Their teamwork, guided by Tyson and Maddison’s Talents, was nearly perfect.

Retrieving her sword, she sheathed it and unshouldered her rifle, sighting down the barrel as she fired, the shot hitting someone as they appeared around a corner, dropping them instantly.

Anisha whistled. “Nice shot.”

Shrugging, Maddison shouldered the rifle before the pair returned to the truck, around the corner. “We good to come back Zoe?”

“Yes,” she replied through the earpiece.

“On our way then,” Maddison stated, starting the truck and driving back towards the entrance.

~

When they arrived, the crowd was split into three groups. Injured and their carers, arrested people under guard of Zoe and the rest, milling around.

Maddison pulled the truck up next to the arrested commanders before climbing up onto the roof, making sure that it was quite clear that she had her rifle in hand and that she was watching everyone. Catching Zoe in the corner of her eye, she received a nod.

A lot of confusion and a lot of anger from the leaders. A few trying to think of plans, I’m trying to stop those before they happen. Tyson came to Zoe’s side, hand on pistol. “Well, no casualties, we kept it to a minimum,” he said loudly enough for most nearby to hear.

A snort from the nearest commander brought Zoe and Tyson’s attention to them. A thirty something man, dressed in slightly more looked after clothing than the majority of those nearby.

“Problem?” Tyson asked, striding over, resting a hand on the hilt of a sword.

“There were far from no casualties,” the man replied, glaring at Tyson.

“Yeah, but, if you know who my sister and I am, then you know your casualties are a lot lower than they could have been.” Slowly and purposely, he drew his sword, pointing it at the man’s chest. “Would you like to become another casualty?”

“Tyson,” Zoe said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Seems you have a leash now,” the man sneered.

With a quick flick of his sword, Tyson cut the man’s throat, all the while maintaining eye contact with him. Zoe sighed in frustration, rubbing the ball of her hand on her forehead. “I suppose you’ve made the point you need to,” she said softly. “Next time, please don’t.”

Turning his head towards her, he nodded once.

“Okay, let’s try this again,” Zoe said, looking down the line of arrested people. “Surprising some of you, I personally don’t want your lives to end. However, as you’ve just witnessed, my allies are definitely happy to just do so if they feel justified.” As she spoke, she rubbed at her temples, exasperated. “I want to just talk to those who were in charge. You talk amongst yourselves while I go address those who arrested you.”

Turning, she left the glaring Tyson to guard them as she went to the injured, finding Boo directing a few others as she removed some shrapnel from a leg.

“We managed to keep life threatening injuries down,” Boo said as she tossed the shrapnel aside and started stitching. “Either they’re dead or they’ll live.” She sighed and stopped her work to look at Zoe. “You know how I feel about war, and the fact that we’ve initiated this attack doesn’t sit well with me.”

“I know,” Zoe said in a drained tone. “I know.” Sighing, she rubbed her face again. “Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

Nodding, Boo went back to her stitching as Zoe turned and approached the crowd of survivors, some standing, most sitting, all milling around with Maddison and Anisha patrolling around them. Completely retracting her helmet, she made a show of powering down her weapons array and taking off her gloves. Quickly linking a small comm unit to the others in her team, she amplified the speakers so she could be heard all over.

“My name is Zoe and I represent a group of like minded individuals based in Europe. We call ourselves the Community, because we share the same attitude of inclusion, especially with those who have Talents, or as some of you know them, Taints. Now, whether you agree with your previous leadership or not, the fact that you’re over here and not over there means that I’m going to offer you a new life, one where we try to rebuild the world to include everyone, Talented or not. You will not be discriminated against for not having a Talent, and you will not discriminate against those who have one. Simple as that. From there, we rebuild. I’m sure you’re sick of poor rations and shelter and lack of variety of what you can do. You want to eat well? Work hard. Want a house of your own? Earn it or build it. We want the best for everyone, not just those in charge. If you’re interested in a better life, here is the offer. Head north, it’ll be about a four to six day walk to the nearest Community outpost, where ships can take you north to Brisbane and as far north as Cairns. There you will be fed and clothed and the more you work, the more you will receive. The only time you have to fight, is if that’s what you want to do. You want to be a farmer, a builder, a fisher, a comms operator, a cook, whatever, you can do it, we need you to do it, and you’ll get rewarded for doing so.”

She looked over the assembled people, most worn and weary looking, but now with expressions of hope on their faces. “I’m not going to take away the offer any time, it will be an open offer. The benefit of accepting now is that you don’t have to walk all the way to Brisbane, only to Warnervale airport. I’ll get a boat or two to come down and pick everyone up in two weeks.” She took the mumbles of acceptance with a slight smile, happy that people were interested in her offer. “I understand that there are those who are wary, and you should be. Why should you trust an offer from someone with a strange accent in the company of known killers? Simple. Look at us. Do we look unfed? Are we well clothed? Did we not come in on an armoured truck and in a kinetic suit? We have access to these things and we want to share with those who are like minded. Feel free to not join us and go your own way, but be warned, if you attack us, we are prepared at all times to defend ourselves.”

“You can retrieve what you need for travel and the minimum of weapons needed for hunting, but you will leave other weapons and armour behind. You won’t need those in the future, as we have better for our defences. Now, feel free to gather what you need to travel, but please let yourselves be checked by one of my team for unneeded items before you go.” As she finished, several extra people stood, helping others to their feet before heading back into the compound. Some looked eager to take on the new life, while others looked thoughtful, or even defeated. She nodded and turned her attention to a young man who approached her. “What can I do for you?” she asked, softening her stance and face.

“What about the patrols that were sent out yesterday and this morning? Are they included in the offer? I’ve got friends out there who don’t know this has happened.”

Zoe broke into a warm smile. “Of course. We’ve already run into a patrol this morning and sent them on their way north. Were your friends with Lucas’s patrol?”

The man looked startled for a moment. “Yes! You ran into them?”

Nodding, Zoe waved north. “Yes, they’ve already joined up, under similar circumstances you have today. Manny chose to attack us and, as you can well imagine, his life ended. The others are safe already.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, the man smiled. “Okay, I’ll join you, miss.”

“One second, what is your friend’s name you wanted to check on?”

“Uh, Heidi, and um, James.”

“Let me get in contact with them.” Zoe pulled a phone out and called Asquith.

“Hey Zoe,” Tweet answered.

“Hey Tweet. Video please. Can you find Heidi and James for me please? I have a friend of theirs who wants to make sure they’re okay.”

“Sure thing!” Tweet replied as the video came on and she jogged from the house. Zoe turned sideways to the young man, holding the device up so he could see it. His jaw dropped and he stared wide eyed at it.

“Wow, working tech,” he wondered out loud as Tweet found the two in question.

“Heidi! Zoe wants to chat,” she called out, turning the phone around.

“Hey Heidi, I have a friend here who wants to check on you and James,” she said, turning the camera so that Heidi could see them both. “How are you today?”

“Tim! Oh, they’re treating us so well! I’ve had a full stomach all day and it’s great. I hope you’re coming to join us!” The camera turned and James waved, a cob of corn in hand and mouth.

“Straight away!” Tim replied with enthusiasm. “I’m glad you’re both safe, I was worried when you didn’t return.”

Heidi shook her head. “Honestly, it’s the best thing that’s happened in a long time to us. We’ll be heading north to Warnervale tomorrow. Honestly, I can’t wait to learn to do something other than patrol endlessly.”

“Okay, I’ll head there straight away,” Tim replied, turning to Zoe. “Thank you for showing me that.”

“No worries,” Zoe replied. “We’ll see you around Heidi, James. Enjoy your lunch. Thanks Tweet.” Disconnecting the call, she put the phone away. “Feel free to tell anyone you want about the working tech. There’s not much to share around currently, but I can give you and a couple of others simple comms units so you can coordinate the larger group.”

“Thank you miss,” he said, beaming ear to ear. “I’ll be back.” With that, he ran off, joining others of similar age, chatting loudly about how their friends were safe and waiting for them.

~

Zoe fielded a few more questions, watching over the dispersing group, delaying the inevitable confrontation with the previous leaders as long as she could.

They’ve thought plenty hard about your offer and most are willing to change. There’s a few who are trying to hide that they’re willing to betray us as soon as they can, though.

Sighing for what felt like the millionth time in the hour, Zoe turned, steeling herself for the next part of what she had to do. Release the ones genuinely wanting to change, she thought back to him as she approached.

Tyson moved slowly and calmly, drawing a sword and walking behind the seated group, drawing worried looks from them. With a quick flick, he cut the ropes binding three of the people, two women and a man, who turned and looked from Tyson to the approaching Zoe.

“Tyson vouches for you, you can join the others who are looking to go north. Maddison will give you a comm unit so that you can help organise the others who rely on you. Please don’t make me regret this decision.”

The man nodded and left with one of the women, who both started chatting and planning, calling those who were once their underlings to them to help with the organizing. The second woman approached Zoe and stopped as Zoe stopped, the pair facing each other. “I heard your speech, I’ve listened to the rumours for the last few months and I’ve waited to see if there was any substance to the rumours. Zoe the Talented, the technopath. I saw your effects on the battlefield at Asquith. The town shouldn’t have been able to stop the army we had, but they did, thanks to you, and the twins. Like some others, I do not agree with the methodology of attacking those who are different to us and I did protest the attack. As such, I want to thank you for sparing us as much as you did. You could have killed us all, but you tried to minimize damage and deaths, which gives you more reason to lead us than those that lead before.” The woman saluted.

“Please, don’t salute,” Zoe said, waving the woman’s arm down. “I am not a military leader, I do not enjoy fighting and having to take lives, I do not want to be the one everyone looks up to.”

The woman surprised Zoe by stepping forward and attempting to hug the suit. Zoe awkwardly patted the woman’s shoulder before the woman let go. “Then keep being you,” the woman said. “Keep caring and keep the strong people around you.” Patting Zoe’s shoulder, the woman left, leaving Zoe speechless for a moment before realising she still had more people to talk to, as Tyson freed another man, who saluted Zoe before going to find supplies.

Several approaches to the pending talk passed through her thoughts as she looked over the group of leaders in front of her.